Hands Of Blue
by Built on the Horizon
Summary: When Erik met and saved Charles, the telepath had endured years of torture. The ruthless Magneto sees himself in the broken and shattered mutant who should have been his friend. AU Firefly-inspired
1. Prologue

Hands of Blue - Prologue

They first heard about the telepath through Shaw's Network. It was always the first to know, any new power, new development, new mutant that was discovered, word always reached the tendrils of information gatherers Shaw put in place.

Of course, now Shaw was killed by Erik's own hand, it was now just The Network, underground mutants keeping in touch with each other through tenuous links of communication.

The Network began in the Hellfire Club. Shaw had people under his thumb, a demonic looking teleporter and the first telepath, Emma Frost. They increased in number, slowly, first an "exotic dancer" with dragonfly wings, a teenage delinquent fresh out of juvie and the government plant, a genius with hidden feet.

It was through the last one, a mutant codenamed Beast that was hiding in the government's staff, that word spread through The Network that a branch of the government had a telepath.

All mutants fear telepaths. They are the freaks among freaks. Telepaths can rat you out to the government by little more than passing you on the street. Anonymity is every mutant's first line of defence, and telepaths strip that from them, leaving them exposed to anyone and anything.

Erik was the only mutant who kept an association with a telepath – Shaw's former right-hand, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. It made him the ultimate threat, that he could control a telepath. He was protected by the helmet he always wore, the one he pried from Shaw's still warm corpse. Either from fear or respect, Erik was the head of The Network. He didn't control the mutants, they didn't owe him anything. Mutants just exist, independent from each other. Aware, but alone.

__

All records of the telepath referred to it simply as X.

It could be a number, or just identification, Erik didn't know. All he knew was that the government had a very powerful weapon, and if he couldn't control it, then he would destroy it.

_NOPLEASEnotagaindon'tI'-_

Silence.

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><p><strong><em>Inspired from a prompt on the 1stclass_kink meme here: .?thread=103206#t103206 <em>**

**_Inspired by X-Men: First Class and Firefly/Serenity. AU in which Charles and Erik haven't met yet._**

**_Please review! I'd love to see what you think of this Prologue._**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The compound was all concrete and steel, a supposedly hidden CIA base of operations, where the Beast had spread word of X. It didn't stand a change against Magneto.

He was accompanied by his inner circle, first, the telepath, Emma Frost, who was needed for this little mission of search and retrieve. The other two, the blood red demon of a transporter Azazel and his wife, the lethal Mystique, had nothing the government could take from them, and nothing to fear from the telepaths. They were also deadly fighters and powerful mutants by their own rights, and saw the mutual benefits that came with an association with Erik Lensherr.

Erik waved a hand and the barred gates peeled open, allowing the four mutants entry. Snipers were taken out of commission moments after Azazel disappeared from his side. After a cheeky grin over her shoulder, Mystique took off running at the guards moving to intercept them. She was very graceful in battle, sleek blue lines twisting around them as they fell.

'Find the mutant.' Erik ordered Emma, sending a few wayward bullets bending impossibly around them.

Emma nodded, tilting her head as she reached out with her mind. A brief frown flicked across her face. 'I can't feel him.'

'You said he was here.' Erik reminded her, with an edge to his voice.

'He was.' Emma snapped. 'It's like he's hidden. But it can't be mental blocks, no one's strong enough to make themselves disappear.' She opened her eyes, an impossible blue that stared right through him. 'I can feel a void, like you.'

The helmet weighed heavy on his head and Erik strode towards the CIA Research base. Agents fell from the sky around them, Azazel disappearing from the night's sky, leaving behind wisps of red smoke. They had hardly walked through the doors when Mystique approached them, half dragging a young man wearing a lab coat. She gripped his throat, holding him out to Erik.

'This one might know where X is.'

'Magneto.' He gasped out, Mystique's blue nails pinching sharply into his neck. The scientist turned his eyes towards Emma and focused his thoughts.

'Let him go, Mystique.' Emma said, stepping closer to scrutinise the young man. The shapeshifter looked to Erik for confirmation before she dropped him. Emma stroked the tip of one finger down the side of the scientist's face. 'We don't hurt our own.'

'He's a mutant?' Mystique asked, incredulous.

Once the word was spoken aloud, the man's entire demeanour changed. He straightened his back, confident and proud. 'Yes. I'm the Beast.'

'Really? You?' Mystique hid a laugh and drummed her fingers against her bare hip. 'No offence, honey, but we're looking for a government spy, not a fast-tracked co-ed.'

'Show us your tricks, Henry.' Emma prompted.

'My name is Hank McCoy.' He corrected indignantly as he toed off his shoes and tugged at his socks.

Mystique raised a sardonic brow. 'Erik, we don't have time for-'

Erik raised a gloved hand to silence her as Hank revealed his deformed feet, letting them stretch finally on the concrete floors. He jumped and flipped in mid air, grabbing onto the pipeline that ran above their heads with his finger-like toes.

'Beast, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' Erik said, admiring the impressive display. 'My telepath seems to have… misplaced X, could you bring us to him?'

Hank didn't display the usual fear a mutant usually does when confronted with a telepath, he just answered honestly. 'He's not misplaced. When he's being punished, they lock him in Cerebro, with the deprivation helmet. You won't find him telepathically.'

'Beast.' Erik leant in close to the upside down face. 'Take me to him.'

Henry swung down and straightened his clothes. 'This way.' He said, before scurrying off quickly.

There was a flash of red smoke and fire, and a red hand slipped into Mystique's. 'Who's that?' Azazel asked.

'It's the Beast, apparently.' Mystique answered, gripping the strong hand.

'They're getting younger every year.' Azazel grumbled, pulling Mystique tight against his body and stealing a kiss before following after the other mutants.

'I'd been working from samples of his blood and DNA for months before I was granted access to him. His neoprosin formation is unlike anything I've ever seen.' Hank said excitedly. 'I was transferred here three months ago and actually saw him. That was when I contacted you.'

Erik laid a hand that was only slightly threatening on Hank's shoulder. 'You did right.'

They went down some steps that led to a bulkhead door that bulged outwards in a gradual curve and sealed tightly shut. Hank gripped the spinning wheel that held it closed and tugged, turning it and the door opened outwards.

Cerebro was a large, round room, dimly lit and perfectly spherical, with nothing interrupting the smooth line of metal.

'What is this?' Emma asked, standing at the entrance which was at the exact middle of the curve, half a story from the bottom of the sphere.

'This is Cerebro, she amplifies brainwaves, in the case of X, it increases his power range and ability.' Hank explained simply as he pulled a contraption off of the wall. It unfolded to become a set of narrow stairs that he fit inside Cerebro, leading down to the rounded bottom.

Erik stepped inside, his eyes slowly adjusting to the thin light. Keeping one hand to steady himself against the metal of the curved wall, he stepped down into Cerebro.

There was a figure curled up on the floor of Cerebro. In the dim light, Erik could make out the curve of a pale back, naked and shivering slightly on the cool metal floor. X was thin, his rib cage prominent enough that Erik could have traced each protruding rib.

'X?' He said hesitantly, stepping closer. There was no response from the imprisoned mutant. Erik's eyes adjusted and he noticed a flush of goosebumps along the other man's skin. He reached for the collar of his outfit, unclipping the dark red cape that hung from his shoulders.

Erik dropped to the ground beside the mutant and draped the material around the huddled form, giving X some semblance of dignity for the first time in years.

X stopped trembling, his breathing coming short and quick. One hand unfurled from his chest and reached over his shoulder, fingers contracting in the dark material. For a long moment, Erik froze, unsure what to do next, then he placed his gloved hand over the stranger's.

Thin fingers closed around his, pulling firmly, using Erik's weight to roll over and face him.

X's head was completely encased in metal, a dome shaped helmet – Erik reached out with his gift – made of the same material as the unmistakable material as the one on he had stolen from Shaw. His face was hidden by the dome, giving the impression he was less than human.

Erik ran a finger along the underside of the dome. A metal bar ran diagonally under the helmet, pressing into X's throat and jaw. Erik looked for a catch or a lock, but –

Some fucker had _welded it on_.

'You shouldn't take it off.' Hank warned.

Erik turned his head to glare daggers at the mutants still standing, silhouetted at the entrance. 'What the hell is this?' Erik demanded, spreading his hand on the top of the dome as a protective gesture that X couldn't even feel.

'It blocks all telepathic transmissions.' Hank attempted to explain, even though the other mutants had already deduced as such. 'It's pretty necessary because of the treatments. Don't remove the deprivation helmet until you're prepared to deal with it.'

Erik settled his other hand on X's shoulder, trying to coax movement from the furled mutant. 'Can you hear me? Come on, come with us.'

'He can't walk.'

At Hank's voice, Erik's gaze slid to the thin legs under his cape. They were still angled away from the doorway, at a painful angle now his body was facing the other way. Carefully, so as not to disturb the delicately placed cape, Erik slid a hand under the bent knees and the other around X's shoulders. He used his power to make the domed helmet seem weightless. Immediately, X pushed his head into Erik's arm, making an uncomfortable pressure on his bicep.

'Azazel, we're leaving.'

Azazel nodded and slid an arm around Mystique's waist, his other hand grasping Emma's.

'I'm coming with you.'

'No you're not, son.' Erik said, ascending the stairs with the naked form of X in his arms. 'You can do your work here, The Network needs an inside on this research base.'

'There is no research without X.' Hank said, grabbing Mystique's hand despite her glare.

Erik felt fury begin to build inside himself, the metal hinges of the doors trembling. 'We don't hurt our own. You're not coming so you can continue your experiments.'

Hank raised his chin, but his Adam's apple bobbed nervously. 'I feel responsible for him, Magneto.

Erik scrutinised the young man. 'Fine.' He said eventually. Emma placed a hand on the arm Erik had wrapped around X's shoulders, holding him tight.

Azazel tugged at the small group's existence, then they were gone.

Charles was free.

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><p><strong><em>Oh, wow, you guys! I'm so excited people are enjoying this! Thank you all for reading andor reviewing! Makes me so happy inside! First look at Charles, sorry it's a bit unsatisfying, but more to come. This chapter comes to you despite the fact I have an exam in two hours. Also saw the Inner Circle / Brotherhood at work, and Mystique and Azazel have a thing going on there... _**

**_Please review, tell me what you think! Sorry I wasn't able to reply to everyone's review, hopefully I'll get back to everyone this chapter._**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

The Inner Circle owned a number of locations all over the country, gentlemen's clubs and hotels and factories. They were all positioned a certain distance from each other, so Azazel could teleport between them with others in tow.

The nearest to the CIA research facility happened to be a metalworking factory on the outskirts of New York, used to melt down spare military parts after World War II. It had fallen into disrepair from disuse, but it served their purposes.

As soon as they reappeared, Erik summoned the cleanest table to them, a metal slab that scraped along the tiles with a horrifying screech. Mindful of the chill of the metal, but unable to do anything about it, Erik lay X gently on the table. Hank approached the other side, checking X's pulse with two fingers on his wrist.

Erik placed his hands on the rail and stared Hank down. 'Why can't we remove the helmet?'

'He can't control his powers.' Hank said.

Erik glanced up at Emma and unconsciously rolled his shoulder. Every mutant knew that feeling. 'What could that mean for a telepath?'

Something that resembled emotion crossed Emma's usually cold face. 'Anything.'

'Well, we can't have an out of control telepath.' Erik pointed out. There was a grunt of agreement from Azazel.

'Magneto, while this factory might be your dream house, it's not exactly rehab.' Mystique said slyly, pushing at the nuts and bolds that littered the ground with one foot.

'Then were can we take him? The Hellfire club?' Erik gave a sardonic laugh.

'There was an address.' Hank said. 'It was in his file, Westchester. I erased it from the database, they won't find him.' He looked over at Azazel. 'Can you take us there?'

Azazel shook his head. 'I can't teleport somewhere I've never been.'

'Westchester is only an hour from here.' Mystique pointed out. 'We could drive, find the place and Az could jump back.'

'Alright.' Erik decided. 'Emma, go diamond. Azazel, take Mystique and Hank, track down that address.'

Azazel nodded, winding an arm around his wife's waist and grabbed Hank's shoulder. They were gone, and Emma shimmered as she took on her other form. On the table in front of Erik, X made a distressed noise.

'It's okay, X.' Erik soothed, gloved hand running along the length of the bar under X's chin, finding a weak spot. 'Just don't move, I'm going to get you out of this.'

Erik twitched to fingers and the metal broke free at both ends, sending it flying across the room. The sharp edges curled back from X's delicate throat as he drew a wheezing breath. Erik placed one hand on the young mutant's shoulder and spoke quietly. 'It's alright. I'm going to help you.'

'Can't.' The single strangled word was only just audible. 'Shan't.'

Erik moved his other hand to grip the bottom of the deprivation helmet. 'It's okay. I recognise a fellow lab rat when I see one.'

X used Erik's arm as a weight to pull himself to sit upright, his useless legs stretched out under the cape still. Erik gently pulled the helmet away.

He had been shaved bald. Twin round scars marked the top of his skull, evidence of a surgery left behind. The loss of whatever hair he might usually have made the young man seem delicate, fragile, like with one touch, Erik's too large hands would shatter him.

Shaven, thin and terrified. He looked too much like the stacked up bodies in a single mass grave.

X's head bent upwards, searching out the face of the man who saved him. Brilliant blue eyes sought out Erik's.

And he screamed.

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><p>The high-pitched wail vibrated in Erik's skull, so full of pain and fear. Out of instinct, Erik squeezed his eyes shut and clutched at the metal helmet on his own head. A huge clash jolted his eyes back open. X had struggled, over toppling the metal table he had been placed on, falling to the ground. He cried out pitifully, struggling to shuffle across the ground with his hands, the cape tangling in his legs, unable to twitch or help in his attempt to escape.<p>

All the while, he was muttering.

'Alone, not wrong, empty head, not emptywrong, not-people, can't be real, shan't be. I'll be good, I'll be good, not the only wrong one, not again.'

Erik crouched down to even the levels between them; stretching out his hand in what he hoped was a peaceful gesture. 'It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you.'

X buried his face in his hands, ragged fingernails scourging red marks into his scalp, and he shrugged in response. 'The pain doesn't hurt if it's all you've ever felt.'

Erik remembered a long time ago, a similar thought running through the mind of such a young boy, and a voice above him saying _Just bend the handcuffs, my little Erik, and you can walk to the bathroom. This is a simple thing I ask of you, yes?_

Erik's hands moved to his helmet.

'Magneto, don't-' Emma protested, her diamond form not too far away.

'It's alright.' Erik said, more to the frightened man huddled on the floor than to Emma. He bowed his head, drawing the helmet from himself and placing it beside him on the ground.

X gasped, eyes searching out Erik and focusing on him for the first time. He looked shocked, and more than a little terrified, the same way a human would stare at Azazel in fear when the mutant first appeared in front of them.

Erik stretched out a hand and tried to dwell on his most calming thoughts. _Safety. _He projected. His favourite piece of classical music. A fragment of a Yiddish lullaby. A stream of words when he only meant half of them. _You're okay, X, you're safe now. I'm not going to hurt you. You're not alone. There are others out there, like you, like us. Let me help you._

X kept his head tucked down, but pulled his hands away from his head, scrunching them into fists and driving them twice into the floor. He glared at Erik, intense eyes not blinking.

'I'm going to count to three.' X said.

Blood ran cold in Erik's veins.

'And you're going to move the coin.'

Erik started forward, real true anger beating in his ears for the first time since he lobotomised Shaw. 'How could you know that? I wasn't even thinking about it!'

X, who had looked around the room with fear didn't even flinch at Erik's threatening voice.

'_Eins_.'

Emma's voice, strained with concern, drew Erik's attention away from the tortured mutant. 'Magneto, what are you doing?'

Erik glanced around at her diamond form in confusion. A single metal nut rose from the floor beside Erik, rotating slowly. He mentally grabbed the magnetic field and tried to will the nut down, but it wouldn't move. It kept spinning slowly, and soon he realised that it was flattening, something was manipulating the metal and shaping it, into –

A coin.

'_Zwei._'

'I'm not doing anything. How are you doing this?' Erik demanded, rounding on X. 'Are you like me? Metal, can you move metal?'

X wasn't listening, his head half cocked as if he was listening to an unusual song, staring intently at the spinning metal. An engraving started to sink into it, thick lines bent sharply around each other. The Nazi symbol.

'_Drei._' X said.

The coin shot out, too fast for Erik to track. It struck Emma, in the middle of the forehead, bouncing off the diamond with a harmless _ting_. It landed on the floor and rolled away, no longer under the control of a mutant.

Erik turned to X, words of comfort and shock dying on his lips when he saw the sly grin of the other man. The telepath stole the words right from his mind.

'You're not alone.' He said, scratching at his shaved head, gouging into his temple. 'Charles… you're not alone.'

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><p><strong><em>Wow! I am so overwhelmed by the support you all have given me! Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy this chapter, we've opened more than a few can of worms here.<em>**

**_Please review and tell me what you think and what you want to see!_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Three

Heart still thudding at the show of power, Erik frowned and leant forward. 'Is that your name?'

'My name.' Charles repeated dumbly for a moment. 'Erik Lensherr.'

A sad smile tugged at Erik's lips. 'Yes, that's me.'

Charles shot him a small concerned look, hunching his shoulders inwards, trying to take up the least amount of space possible. 'Lensherr, Erik, _Herr Doktor. Manchmal bewegt sich Metall, wenn ich es will. Ich kann es nicht kontrollieren.'_

Erik remembered being frightened, speaking those words in the same trembling voice. Sometimes metal moves when I tell it to. I can't control it. Slipping into German, Erik asked for the man's age. '_Wie alt bist du?'_

'_Vierzehn, Herr Doktor._'

Fourteen. God, he was only just at Shaw's hands at that age, beginning the torture that would turn him into the man he is, a young boy, so easily influenced and manipulated. Erik focused on the image in front of him, a grown man, stubble covering his chin and jaw line, worry lines creased into his forehead, age-old eyes that squeezed shut at the image they received.

'_Nein, das stimmt nicht. Ich bin nicht._' Charles muttered. 'No, that's not right, is it? Differentiate.' His eyes slid open, catching Erik's. He unravelled himself, timidly presenting his left hand, outstretched for a handshake. 'Charles Xavier. How do you do?'

Erik quickly bit down on a smile at the propriety, grasping the other man's hand with his own. 'Erik Lensherr.'

Charles seemed completely disinterested in Erik's name, immediately tugging on the other man's hand and pulling him closer. He tightened his grip and rotated, forcing the underside of Erik's forearm upwards. Thin fingers worked under the cuff of Erik's shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing the sleeve up to his elbow.

_214782_

Charles let out a little gasp of relief, trailing his fingers over the blue ink with reverence. Erik steeled a little, his jaw clenching shut at the blatant reminder marring his skin. Charles shook his head insistently.

'No, no. Look. See.' Charles rotated his own forearm to reveal two parallel black lines running from halfway up his forearm to his thin wrists, where they joined in a jagged connection.

He must have picked up on Erik's confusion, because he leant forward and pressed the heel of his hand into Erik's forehead. Feeling more than slightly ridiculous, Erik had to go cross-eyed to focus on the tattoo.

It was a capital M, tattooed across Charles's wrist, with the tails elongated down his forearm.

'M for mutant. M for mistake.' Charles murmured. 'M for… m-matrimony.'

Erik's eyebrows cocked at the last word on the list, but Charles merely met him with a wry smile. Erik couldn't help but let a small huff of amusement escape him, and Charles grinned back at him, his fingers tracing over the blue numbers and the black M in turn.

'Do you see?' Charles asked, his voice dropping to an amazement filled whisper. 'Do you collaborate?'

Erik laid their arms side by side. 'We're not very different, are we?

'I've been so alone.' Charles smiled up at him, thin and watery.

Erik's hands gripped his, huge hands that dwarfed his completely. 'No, Charles, not any more. You're not alone.'

Charles let out a strangled gasp, eyes suddenly blinking back tears. His hands weakly clutched at the front of Erik's shirt, alternating between spreading the collar flat with his palms and crumpling it under his fingers.

Erik chuckled slightly and drew the other man in close, wrapping his arms around the fragile shoulders.

Finally, Charles shuddered and sobbed.

Fat, wet tears rolled down Charles's cheeks, soaking in Erik's shirt. The sharp prickles of his shaved head ticked Erik's neck. Snot and tears flowed freely, turning Charles into a blubbering mess.

It wasn't dignified, but survival rarely was.

'Erik, they-they made me find us, mind is been so full, so empty in my blood.' Charles sobbed, the words almost unrecognisable.

'Sh, shh.' Erik soothed awkwardly, his gloved hands patting lamely on the other man's back. He tried desperately to grasp for a memory, perhaps one of his mother, but the primary thought in his mind only amounted to _What the fuck do I do?_

'Objectively aware of others sharing my mutation. Not just OCA2, but locked deeper… inside genetic coding.' Charles rambled. 'I miss others. Unbound nucleotide, thymine w-without adenine. T without A. N-need A to correctly function.'

Erik drew on a scrap of knowledge he'd read in a dusty book. 'DNA?' The scientists were doing research into the causes of these mutated abilities. Perhaps they had found it.

Charles gave him a look that made him feel like an idiot. 'How much Nurture did you think was involved? Did you think teddy-' Charles stopped and looked horrified for a moment. 'Where's my teddy?

Completely at a loss, Erik could only cock an eyebrow. 'Uh…'

Charles' eyes darted around the empty room. 'Where's he gone? Teddy?'

'He's insane.' Emma remarked.

'Don't like ice lady.' Charles snapped. 'Bad, mean ice lady, who melts brimstone.' He wrinkled his nose in distaste, then flicked back to his search. 'Teddy, he's…' at a loss of how to describe the lost companion, he bent in half and grabbed for his leg, hauling it closer to wrap his hands around his limp foot. 'He's my teddy; he told without speaking, I'll get you out.'

The thought had hardly even crossed Erik's mind when Charles brightened. 'Yes! The kid! I found him like the others.' Charles' expression shifted, and he raised a hand and touched Erik's nose and eyes lightly. 'Didn't find you. Were you hiding from me? Under the floorboards?'

'No.' Erik shook his head resolutely, then indicated behind him. 'It's the helmet, it protects me from telepaths.'

'Like me.' Charles finished.

Charles curled in on himself, wrapping his arms around his legs and tugging them close. 'Telepaths are dangerous. You shouldn't associate with them.'

A winged girl by the name of Angel had said those words to him by way of warning, the first and only time they had met. Angel had sneered and shrugged at Erik's offer to join them and resolutely told them to fuck off when she realised Emma's ability.

Charles stretched out one shrivelled hand and called the forgotten coin to him, curling his fingers and letting it dance between them.

Erik released a breath in awe. 'You're not dangerous, you're very powerful.'

The coin dropped and hit the ground flat. 'So is the rabid dog that breaks its chain.'

Charles snapped his eyes up and pulled a memory to the forefront of Erik's mind. Great German shepherds, teeth bared and snarling, straining at the chains in the hands of soldiers.

Erik's mouth thinned into a line. 'Don't do that again.'

Charles cocked his head, curling his lips into a sinister smile. 'What, this?'

_Unbearable heat insulated by the surrounding metal, bodies packed against each other, no room to move, sit, breathe. The train rattled and he can sense every piece of iron surrounding them, but it doesn't help, not when he can smell the sizzling flesh of one who leant against the metal._

Snarling like one of the dogs he despised, Erik summoned the helmet to himself and advanced on the smaller man.

'Purple! Purple!' Charles cried, wriggling and dodging Erik's hands.

Erik pinned him by the wrists as he wrestled the helmet onto the shaved head, using his powers to hold it there even as Charles slumped to the side. He considered using the piece of metal as the others had, to seal the helmet to Charles, but just as the bar rattled on the other side of the room, Azazel appeared with Mystique.

Charles smiled, slow and relieved, his blue eyes fixated on the roof. The jagged lines of the helmet were somehow softened by his expression, like one who found solitude and peace after years of searching.

Standing behind him, Mystique simply gushed about the place they found and Erik ordered the teleporter to find a wheelchair, which was brought almost immediately. Charles allowed himself to be lifted and placed upright, his feet positioned onto the footrest. He reached out and touched Erik's forearm, stopping him for a moment.

'I'm sorry.' He said, but didn't elaborate.

Erik frowned and stood, grabbing the handles of Charles's wheelchair. Azazel touched Erik and held Mystique close. There was a tight tug and they vanished from the factory, reappearing miles away on the slightly overgrown grounds of the Xavier mansion.

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><p><em><strong>Well, this one took longer than I thought it would! I completely blame Charles, his thought pattern is all over the place and really difficult to control into a (at least partly) coherent conversation! I am totally overwhelmed by your reviews, thank you all for your support and encouragement!<strong>_

_**Please review, tell me what you think, what you want to see, any theories (bonus points to whoever can figure out "Purple!"), I love to get responses!**_


	5. Chapter 5

The Xavier mansion had visually suffered from years of neglect. The gardens were full of weeds and ivy tangled up the walls beyond tasteful aethstetics. There was mould growing on the windows and the door let out a wailing creak when it opened from the inside.

'I've got the power and water running.' Hank announces as he held the door open for them.

Inside looked like a mausoleum, everything draped in white cloths. Untouched. Preserved.

Charles saw Hank immediately and began making a strange rocking motion, urging Erik to move faster.

'Teddy!' he exclaimed.

Hank went to him and crouched beside the wheelchair, gripping Charles' hand tightly. 'I'm so sorry, Charles. I should have gotten you out months ago by myself, but, I needed them.'

'It's okay.' Charles smiled widely and placed his other hand on Hank's shoulder. 'We all do.'

'Do what?'

'Need them.' Charles said. He raised his arm and pointed directly at Emma. 'Except her. Can I make her leave?'

'No.' Hank said, too sharp and quickly. He gave a tight smile and squeezed Charles' hand. 'You're going to have to keep that big old brain of yours to yourself.'

Charles gave a child-like smile and tilted his head forward. Hank leaned upwards and gave a little head butt to the helmet. As Hank moved to stand, Charles opened his arms and demanded, 'Teddy hug.'

Blushing to the roots of his hair, Hank awkwardly wrapped his long arms around the seated man and Mystique snickered. Charles returned the hug for a brief moment then sharply pushed him away and folded his arms on his lap. He closed off, withdrawing emotionally and tucking his arms in close. 'Cold. Smelly.'

Hank nodded in understanding. 'Okay.' He turned to Erik. 'I think I saw a bathroom on the second floor, left up the stairs. Could you lift the wheelchair up there?'

With a smile and a hand on her cocked hip, Mystique asked innocently, 'How do you know X wasn't talking about you?'

'Because I always smell amazing.' Hank replied, deadpan.

Blue lips stretched over pearly white teeth. She sidled up to Hank and pushed herself onto her toes to kiss his cheek, pausing to inhale once before sliding slowly back to the ground, letting her hand brush down his chest. 'You're right.' She smirked and looked back at her husband. 'We should keep this one.'

Azazel cocked one dark eyebrow and folded his arms across his broad chest.

Mystique giggled and stepped lightly back, leaning against the doorway in a provocative pose. 'Come on, Azazel. I need you to help me christen every room in this house.'

Chuckling deeply, Azazel moved forward and picked up his wife by the waist. Immediately, Mystique wrapped her legs around his middle and playfully snapped her teeth at him. He responded by growling and carrying her out of the foyer.

Charles followed them with his eyes, his lips parted slightly as they kissed and left. 'Erik.' He said evenly. 'I would very much like to have a bath now.'

Two gloved fingers flicked and the wheelchair lifted two feet into the air and began hovering up the staircase. The first door on the left turned out to be a huge bathroom. A large tub dominated the far wall, made with marble stonework and ornate taps. The rest of the room was just as clean and preserved as the rest of the mansion, and hot water flowed from the tap when it was turned.

'You can't leave him alone.' Hank commented from the doorway. 'He's like a child, he might drown.'

'Thank you, Beast, now leave.' Erik ordered. 'Find something to eat around here, and some clothes, too.'

The moment the door was closed, Charles pulled the cape from his lap and dropped it to the floor. Erik half-turned at the movement, then quickly faced the bath again. He considered for a moment, then upended the years old bottle of bubble bath, squeezing until it was half empty. White foam thickened under the spray of the tap, easily enough to cover Charles's dignity.

The bathtub filled quickly, Erik dragged a gloveless hand through the water to test its temperature and flicked the water off. Something touched his shoulder and he turned around to see Charles holding out the helmet, giving it to him.

Erik took it warily. 'You're not going to dig into my mind this time?'

'That is impossible.' Charles said, matter of fact. Spinning the wheels of his chair, Charles manoeuvred into position beside the bath and lifted his arms. Erik peeled off his remaining glove and dropped the pair to the tiles. After a little positioning and lifting, the thin, naked man was lowered gently into the warm water. The tub was still filling, water only beginning to cover Charles' knees as he sat up, Erik kneeling on the white tiles beside him.

The mess of confusing thoughts wondered through Erik's mind. He hardly knew where to start. This telepath was obviously powerful, even more than Emma, he wondered to the extent of his abilities. He was also deeply disturbed, had no control over neither actions nor mutation. Still, Charles could prove to be valuable. Did he posses as second mutation that allowed him to move the metal? Was that even possible?

Charles played with the white bubbles, squeezing them through his fingers. 'You should start there.' He said.

'What?'

'With the metal.' Charles stated. 'I can at least answer that.'

Erik's back straightened and he affixed Charles a hard look. 'You were reading my mind?'

'It is compulsory, not impossible, impossible not to.' Charles murmured.

'Can you move metal?'

'No.' Charles shook his head repeatedly and sank deeper into the water.

'Then how did you do it?'

Charles stretched out his hand and waggled his fingers demandingly. Erik followed his line of sight and saw the handtowel he obviously wanted. Never having bathed a child before, Erik unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and rolled them up to his elbows, exposing his forearms and the blue of his number as he dipped the washcloth into the bubbly water. He lathered soap into the towel and gave it back to Charles to begin washing himself.

'Optical illusion.' Charles stated at length.

Erik's eyebrows rose. 'It wasn't real? But Emma knew and she was in her diamond form.'

Charles shook his head repeatedly. 'Not hallucination, though that is possible.'

Instantly, Erik noticed an ornate knife lying beside him, the words Blood And Honour inscribed in German on the blade. Curious, he picked it up and traced the words. He felt the sharp prick of the blade and saw a bead of red blood well up, but when he looked again, the knife had gone, and his finger was untouched.

'Basic illusion based on your own memories.' Charles explained. 'I can show you some from mine, if you'd like.'

'But the coin,' Erik stressed, 'you didn't explain how you made the coin move.'

'Optical illusions work by tricking your brain, objectively know the lines on the paper aren't moving but mind attempts to convince you otherwise.' Charles recited. 'Brain trick.'

'You said it wasn't an illusion.' Erik insisted.

Charles screamed and thumped his fist into the water, throwing bubbles across the room. 'Not listening to me!' he yelled. He calmed instantly and smiled sweetly, giggling at Erik's splashed shirt.

'Conscious control of power here.' Charles said, demonstrating by curling one hand into a loose fist and holding it up for Erik to see. 'Basis of power here.' He placed his second fist underneath the first. 'Conscious and submarine.' He gritted his teeth and stuttered to control himself. 'Conscious and sub-… subconscious.'

Erik's lips parted slightly in realisation. 'You tricked my subconscious into moving the metal and creating the coin?'

'Remembered my manners. I said please!' Charles insisted. 'Asked sweetly and brain did it. You couldn't force the coin down because…' Charles spread his hands like starfish on the surface of the water. 'I didn't want you to.'

Erik grew power-hungry, imagining the potential. 'That's incredible. You can control another mutant's power and they couldn't even stop you. How far does it extend? What about physical mutations, like Mystique's or Beast's?'

Charles gave him a curious look as he scrubbed the cloth over his chest.

'I mean, uh,' feeling ridiculous, Erik corrected himself. 'Teddy.'

'Teddy…' Charles cocked his head and closed his eyes. 'Teddy is special, can control brain but that would limit his intellect. Could influence special feet…' He nodded and opened his eyes. He smiled seductively and licked his lips. 'You'll find I can be very persuasive.'

The instant attraction and desire that shot through Erik's gut couldn't possibly be just from the lustful expression that shapes Charles' features. He reeled back, breathing sharply and staring in confusion.

'Sorry, sorry.' Charles stammered, his cheeks and neck and chest flushing pink from embarrassment. He gathered some bubbles floating in the water and drew them closer to cover his crotch.

'What the hell was that?' Erik demanded. He refused to admit his voice was gruffer than usual.

'Sorry, Red and Blue are…' Charles trailed off and looked away like a shy schoolboy. 'Downstairs. Together.'

Understanding clicked in Erik's mind and he couldn't help but chuckle. Charles glared at him indignantly. 'Not funny!' he insisted. 'This is why I asked for the helmet.'

'Asked?' Erik repeated, remembering the traumatic memories that Charles had called to the surface and lashing out in anger.

Charles chewed his impossibly red bottom lip and gave an apologetic shrug.

'You manipulated me.' Erik realised.

Charles nodded slowly. 'Sorry.'

'Sorry?' Erik said, his voice low and dangerous. 'You force me to recall the dogs and the trains and all you can say is sorry?'

His anger obviously upset Charles, who started sobbing hot wet tears. 'I just needed the emptrywrong, wanted the silence. You were taking me to Teddy and Red and Blue and the Ice Lady and it's getting very, very crowded!' He cried.

Once again, Erik found himself with the impossible task to sooth the frightened man. His mood swings were fast enough to break his neck.

'How did you know what I would do?' Erik asked, trying to move on Charles' train of thought.

'I know everything about you.' Charles said simply. 'Everything.' He released a little sigh of breath and straightened his thin shoulders. 'I would like to get out now.'

Erik stood up and checked outside the bathroom door to find a set of white and blue striped pyjamas for Charles to wear. He brought them back inside and placed them on the edge of the bath.

'Helmet goes back on.' Charles insisted, wagging his finger at Erik until he nodded. The washcloth was flattened between Charles' hands and spread out onto his bald head, covering up his twin surgery scars. 'Keeping brain to myself.'

'Why can you be around me, then?' Erik asked.

'I already know you.' Charles said. 'And you're a good man.'

'I'm not a good man.' Erik said. He looked towards the door and gave a little sigh. 'But I've got good men with me, and that's a start.'

The process to get Charles out of the bathtub was particularly difficult, made no easier but Charles' moods changing instantly, from being helpful to angry and stubborn.

After half an hour or so, Charles was dressed in warm flannel and sitting upright in his wheelchair. His stomach made a growling noise that Charles tried to imitate.

What struck Erik most besides the sheer power Charles possessed was his receptiveness to psychic suggestion. When he got impatient with Charles' stubborn refusal to move, Erik yelled at him internally and the other man would acquiesce. Erik absently thought how tired his was and Charles yawned.

Erik collected the abandoned cape and tucked it under his arm while Charles wiggled his fingers in the direction of the metal helmet. After confirming that Charles wanted the helmet to block his telepathy, Erik slid it down over his shaved skull, levitated the wheelchair downstairs and brought Charles into the kitchen. While everyone else was occupied, Emma had obviously taken the stolen car into town and bought some of the basics. Hank was slicing ham for some sandwiches but stopped when Erik entered.

Charles grumpily crossed his arms and scowled at Emma when she offered him a sandwich. The young scientist put down the knife and approached Erik.

'Magneto, I need to talk to you.'

Erik turned to him, levelling Hank with a steady stare.

'It's about Charles' legs.'

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><p><strong><em>I am such a horrible person for taking so long to write. I'm so sorry everyone, but I hope you stick with it anyway. In this chapter: Bath! Seriously, it wasn't until I finished that I realised that is all that happened. I hope you enjoyed it!<em>**

**_Please review, tell me what you think and what you'd like to see!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

All of Erik's attention focused instantly on the young scientist. 'Tell me.'

Hank hesitated and jerked back. Charles had wheeled close to them, staring up at Hank with suspicion in his eyes. The helmet looked ridiculously large and oversized on his head; Hank had the image of a young boy trying on his father's military gear.

'Teddy, what are you doing?' Charles asked, narrowing his eyes.

'Nothing, Charles.' Hank assured him. 'Eat your sandwich.'

Charles still looked distrustful, and ripped into the bread with his teeth, never taking his eyes off the pair of them. He spat it out instantly, a piece of ham landing on Hank's shoes.

'You're trying to kill me!' he wailed, pointing an accusing finger at Emma, who was assembling the sandwiches.

'Charles.' Erik snapped, and the crippled man meekly listened. 'What if I make your sandwich, would that be okay?'

'You have tasty fingers.' Charles replied.

Erik took this as affirmative and stepped to the bench and replaced Emma, pulling the sliced ham pieces apart and lining them on the slice of bread. He gave Hank a pointed look and muttered, 'We'll talk later.'

Mystique and Azazel entered, hand in hand and close together. Mystique grinned wickedly and sat on her husband's lap at the kitchen bench. Charles couldn't help but stare at them, frowning as he thought.

'I cannot conjugate. No current literature regarding heritability. Reduced to simplistic; two of the primaries. Where is the yellow boy?'

'What the hell is he rambling about?' Azazel asked gruffly.

'What madmen always say.' Emma answered. 'Gibberish.'

A look of genuine hurt crossed Charles' face and he proceeded to stuff the sandwich Erik placed in front of him into his mouth, trying to eat it all in one bite.

'Alright, listen up.' Erik said, and every scrap of attention was given to him. 'In breaking X out of CIA custody, we've brought trouble down on us.'

Emma smiled a little smugly at that.

'But I stand by my decision and my rule; we never harm a fellow mutant.' Erik turned his head to Hank pointedly. 'You would do well to remember that.'

'This changes things, Erik.' Mystique reminded. 'The government knows about us, there's no denying it.'

'More than that.' Azazel added. 'Proof of experimenting on us.'

Emma cocked her head in Erik's direction. 'You're thinking we could go to the public.'

'I'm not thinking anything just yet.' Erik snapped back. 'We've bought some time and decent accommodations for once. I suggest you enjoy it.

'What about X?' Mystique questioned.

A knife clattered to the floor, making them all jump a little at the noise. Hank smiled a little guiltily, bending down to pick it up. It had fallen beside one of the wheels of Charles's wheelchair.

In one quick movement, Hank picked up the knife and pricked the tip into the sole of Charles's foot.

Charles screamed, and the knife in Hank's hand turned unwillingly to press threateningly against his throat. Erik stood frozen, his fist clenched and outstretched, holding the knife in place.

'Hank!' Mystique yelled, shocked.

Erik changed the pressure on the knife, wordlessly compelling Hank to stand and step back against the bench, his neck stretched away from the sharp point.

'We never harm a fellow mutant!' Erik bellowed.

Hank's Adam's apple bobbed, he was fully aware of how exposed his throat was, and the three other powerful mutants that heeded Erik's every command. His ugly feet were worthless here.

'Look at him.' Hank pleaded. There was no reaction from the other mutants. Desperation entered his voice. 'Just look at him!'

All eyes turned slowly to Charles, cowering in confusion in his wheelchair.

His legs were instinctively pulled up to his chest, his foot twitching as a single red drop of blood slid between his toes.

'Charles…' Erik breathes.

The other man shivered all over and Hank spoke again. 'You saw it happen, he flinched, you saw it.'

Charles looked up at the rest of the mutants, the helmet sinking to almost hide his eyes from them.

'Charles, were you lying to us?' Erik asked evenly. 'Could you walk all this time?'

'But he can't!' Mystique objected. 'His legs are too thin, the muscles have shrunken. I've seen it before.'

'He hasn't used his legs.' Hank admitted, eyes focused on the knife at his throat then moving up to Erik's fierce face. 'You don't understand, and neither does he.'

'He understands.' Charles' voice cut through the tension of the room. 'He doesn't comprehend.'

Pale fingers crept up his throat and Charles pawed at the bottom rim of the helmet, eventually gripping it and yanking it sharply over his head, tossing it to the side. Erik caught it in mid air, and brought it to himself. The bald head was revealed, and piercing blue eyes studied Hank's face.

He screamed. High and piercing, enough to Azazel clamp hands over his ears. Charles pushed the chair away, ragged nails scratching at the flannel covering his legs, thumping fists into his thighs.

'Charles!' Erik shouted.

The other man was babbling, sobs breaking his words apart. 'Persuasion, coercion, pack me full and tear at the seams, rip-rip-break. Gangrenous, got to chop the tree at the root to make a pretty table. Carve deep. Rip it out! Rip it out!'

Emma had transformed into diamond the moment the helmet was removed, but the others weren't so lucky. The smell of rotting, burning corpses flooded Erik's nose, mouth, making him gag and collapse. Heart-swallowing, paralysing guilt crushed Hank as Charles shifted through his memories, pulling up every time the other mutant was hurt for Hank's research. Azazel reached for him, a large red hand clapped over Charles' screaming mouth.

'Go away!' Charles demanded, mumbling under strong fingers. Azazel was engulfed in his own fire and red smoke, only able to let out a yelp of surprise before he was teleported away.

Mystique tried to get to him, but she was stopped by a high pitched wailing in her own head that brought her to the ground. Her form rippled involuntarily, shifting through the last dozen people she had transformed into. 'Erik!' she screamed, her voice altering into another's even as she spoke. 'Help!'

Somehow, Erik managed to get the helmet onto his own head, mercifully blocking out the painful memories. He looked up in time to see Emma stretch out her diamond hand. She pushed straight into Charles' mind, the diamond wall inescapable, crushing him back into his own head and forcing forward a single order.

_Go to sleep_.

Charles collapsed in his wheelchair, every limb going limp as he lost consciousness. His face was slack, mouth open in an approximation of his scream from before. He looks so fragile without the harsh lines of the helmet. The pale curve of his throat was exaggerated as his head stretched over the backrest of the chair and he swallowed.

For some reason, Erik was reminded of one of the first manifestations of his power, of lying unconscious in the mud in front of the crippled remnants of the metal gate.

'What did you do?' he demanded of Emma.

She looked at him coolly, transforming back into her usual skin. 'I contained the threat. Sir.'

Hank groaned loudly as he awoke, clutching at his brown hair. 'My brain feels like it's been pulled into strings.' He sat up, patting around on the floor until his fingers touched his glasses. 'And then someone played cats-cradle with it.'

Azazel reappeared in a puff of smoke at the doorway and rushed to his wife, wrapping an arm around her and helping her off the ground and into his lap. 'Are you alright, _zolotoi_?' he asked quietly.

Mystique responded by throwing her arms around Azazel's neck, burying her face in his shoulder and letting the tears of pain flow. His red fingers spread across the blue curve of her back, stroking soothingly. 'Am sorry.' He murmured, 'Safe now. Beloved, you are safe.'

Erik grew spiteful of the intimate moment, the same reaction he'd always had at the sight of any mother comforting her son. He snapped his fingers loudly and the wheelchair rose, carrying its passenger smoothly out of the room.

'We'll talk in the morning.' Erik warned them, following the wheelchair closely.

If Charles instinctively curled towards Erik's warm hands as the other mutant picked him up and slid him into the largest bed, Erik refused to notice.

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><p><em><strong>I have no excuse for the lateness of this chapter, only hope that you'll forgive me. Please review!<strong>_


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